Hi all,
Thank you kindly for the advice. I ran this one shot last Friday. I needn't have asked about the character creation or defiling rules rules; all the players used pregens I'd written, and nobody went with a defiling character... go figure.
I'm ideologically opposed to balanced encounters (not that you're wrong, it's just my preference). I had the players besieged in a fortress village being attacked by ~150 raiders, belgoi, and salt zombies led by a charismatic defiler. I gave them lots of tools to cope, one of which being very strong 4th level PCs.
The stats are a decent benefit on casters too, since everybody can use the Con mod, Dex mod, and HP--though, for the purposes of the one-shot, I was pretty ok with martials being strong.
This also didn't come up because of the players using pregens, but here's the full list for good measure. And, as mentioned above, I'm not super concerned with balance. Honestly, I was looking forward to some players bringing broken OP PCs created with these rules and wreaking havoc, since it's not a big deal in a one-shot.
Weapons:
Armor:
Thank you kindly for the advice. I ran this one shot last Friday. I needn't have asked about the character creation or defiling rules rules; all the players used pregens I'd written, and nobody went with a defiling character... go figure.
I have indeed played with 2024 rules before.
I'm ideologically opposed to balanced encounters (not that you're wrong, it's just my preference). I had the players besieged in a fortress village being attacked by ~150 raiders, belgoi, and salt zombies led by a charismatic defiler. I gave them lots of tools to cope, one of which being very strong 4th level PCs.
The stats are a decent benefit on casters too, since everybody can use the Con mod, Dex mod, and HP--though, for the purposes of the one-shot, I was pretty ok with martials being strong.
Thank you for the recommendation! I used Toucanbuzz's Monster Manual (much obliged to Toucanbuzz, incidentally). But I'll take a look at the Spelljammer stuff if I run another Dark Sun game.
I had both! One barbarian with 18 AC from unarmored defense, one monk with 17 AC from unarmored defense, and one thri-kreen with 17 AC from the chameleon carapace.
Ya, I curated the weapon and armor lists; rapiers are not present.
This also didn't come up because of the players using pregens, but here's the full list for good measure. And, as mentioned above, I'm not super concerned with balance. Honestly, I was looking forward to some players bringing broken OP PCs created with these rules and wreaking havoc, since it's not a big deal in a one-shot.
Weapons:
- All edged weapons break, and become unusable, when an unmodified 1 is rolled for an Attack. If the weapon would still hit the target, it deals its normal damage for that attack before breaking.
- Melee edged weapons made of iron roll a larger die for their damage, add +1 to their Attack rolls, and do not have a chance to break. Melee weapons made of bronze are just as rare and expensive as iron weapons and do not have a chance to break, but do not deal increased damage or have a bonus to their Attack rolls.
- Ranged weapons that use ammunition made of metal do an extra +1 damage.
- The following weapons are in common use in Darksun:
- Simple Melee Weapons
- Club
- Dagger—edged weapon
- Daggers made of iron deal 1d6 damage.
- Greatclub
- Handaxe—edged weapon
- Handaxes made with iron deal 1d8 damage.
- Javelin
- Iron tipped javelins deal +1 damage when thrown.
- Mace
- Quarterstaff
- Spear—edged weapon
- Spears made with iron spearheads deal 1d8 damage or 1d10 damage when used two-handed with the versatile property.
- Simple Ranged Weapons
- Dart
- Iron tipped darts deal +1 damage.
- Simple Bow (as Shortbow)
- Iron tipped arrows deal +1 damage.
- Sling
- Martial Melee Weapons
- Flail
- Lance—edged weapon
- Lances made with iron spearheads deal 1d12 damage.
- Longsword—edged weapon
- Longswords can only be made with iron, and are a rare and valuable high status weapon. They deal 1d10 damage or 2d6 damage when used two-handed with the versatile property.
- Maul
- Morningstar
- Pike—edged weapon
- Pikes made with iron spearheads deal 1d12 damage.
- Scimitar—edged weapon
- Scimitars can only be made with iron, and are a rare and valuable high status weapon. They deal 1d8 damage.
- Shortsword—edged weapon
- Shortswords can only be made with iron, and are a rare and valuable high status weapon. They deal 1d8 damage.
- War Pick—edged weapon
- War picks made with iron deal 1d10 damage or 1d12 damage when used two-handed with the versatile property.
- Whip
- Martial Ranged Weapons
- Blowgun
- Composite Bow (as Longbow)
- Iron tipped arrows deal +1 damage.
Armor:
- Some armor is widely available: Padded Armor, Leather Armor, Studded Leather, Hide Armor, Scale Mail (scale is constructed from bone chunks or animal scales), Shields.
- Some armor is available using rare and expensive special materials like mekillot shell pieces: Breast Plate, Half Plate.
- Heavy armor is simply not available.
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